


Patience

by gonergone



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, slight hints of unrequited Nico/Percy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2691272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gonergone/pseuds/gonergone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The interrogation scene that could've (should've) happened in chapter 8 of The Son of Neptune.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the fandom_snowflake challenge Day 7:   
> In your own space, create a fanwork. A drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. A picspam. Something.

Percy really wasn't having a very good day. He'd thought arriving at Camp Jupiter would be the end to most of his problems, that somehow he'd get his memory back once he got inside the corridor, that everything would be familiar and he'd finally feel like he belonged somewhere.

Instead, _nothing_ was familiar, and Percy felt even more alone than he had while he was being chased down the hillside by the Gorgons. 

Even worse than that was the niggling feeling of recognition he'd had when he met with Reyna. It was just the barest flicker, something he'd probably completely ignore usually, except he was so desperate to hold onto anything from his forgotten life that it was doubly disappointing when Reyna didn't seem to know him at all. 

When Hazel introduced him to Nico, however, it was much more than a flicker of recognition. It was a full on billboard in his mind. He knew Nico, he was sure of it. And Nico definitely knew him. 

Percy frowned, watching Nico's eyes flick away from his every time they almost met. It wasn't just the warm jolt of familiarity Percy got when he looked at him, either. Nico was a pretty bad liar. He _knew_ Percy, and he was lying right to his face about it. Percy figured that that either meant Nico was working with Juno (bad enough), or that he had reasons of his own to pretend he had no idea who Percy was, which had to be worse. 

All of his instincts were telling him that he had to find out what Nico was hiding, the sooner the better. The gods only knew what _else_ Juno had in store for him.

*

He watched Nico through dinner, and there was no doubt that he was avoiding Percy. Percy waited until Nico had stood up from the table before sliding in behind him and grabbing his arm. 

Nico immediately looked alarmed and tried to shake Percy off, but Percy held on tighter, dragging him outside the mess hall and into the quiet night. 

"Look," Percy said urgently, when he saw Nico's other hand creeping toward the black sword he wore on his waist. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to know – you know me. I know we know each other, I can _feel_ it. Just tell me the truth." He was afraid to let Nico go. He was pretty certain he'd be gone before Percy could catch him again. If anything, his cagey behavior was making Percy more sure that Nico knew something. 

Nico's hand paused on the hilt of his sword before dropping off. "I don't like being touched," he said sharply. 

Percy hesitated, but finally relax his hand, watching the pale face carefully. He expected Nico to bolt, but he didn't. Nico didn't seem afraid so much as… ashamed?

"I know we know each other," Percy repeated. "Why won't you admit that? Why won't you tell me who I am?" He tried to keep the anger out of his voice, but Nico recoiled slightly anyway.

Nico swallowed, blinking rapidly. "How much do you remember?" he asked. "Really?"

Percy took a deep breath. "Not much," he admitted slowly.

"But you do remember _some_?"

Percy hesitated, but only for a minute. He knew Nico could help him fill in some of the blanks. "I remember a camp, but not Camp Jupiter. I can't really remember what it was even like; I just remember that it wasn't like this. That, and… someone named Annabeth." Saying her name was more difficult than he'd expected. "Just her name, and her face, though. I thought she'd be here, but she isn't," he added miserably. "She isn't, right?"

Percy watched Nico's expression shutter. "She's not here," he agreed. "She's –" Percy watched his eyes dart around, as if making sure they were really alone. "There's another camp, but I can't tell you more than that. I _can't_ ," he insisted, when Percy opened his mouth. "My father is the one that told me about Camp Jupiter, and he told me it needed to be kept secret. I'm sorry, Percy. I don't know why you're here. I don't know what Juno's planning."

"Why didn't you just admit you know me? Why did you lie to me?"

"I'm sorry," Nico repeated. "I panicked. You're not supposed to be here, and seeing you – I didn't know what to do."

"So we're… friends?" Percy asked. It felt right, that he and Nico were friends.

Nico bit his lip, but nodded. "We've had some issues in the past, but we're friends. You can trust me, Percy, I swear on the River Styx."

The thing was, Percy did believe him. It didn't make sense, considering Nico had already lied to him once, about something important, but nothing about his life seemed to make any sense. Percy wondered if it had always been like that. It certainly felt pretty familiar. 

"What do we do now?" he asked.

Nico shrugged. "I have no idea. If Hera – Juno – has plans for you, I guess you just need to stay here until they start to unfold. Knowing her, it won't take long."

"You know where the other camp is," Percy said. "You could take me there."

Nico eyed him for a moment. "That's a really bad idea," he said. "The other camp is far away." He glanced at the mess hall. "You're part of the legion now – they don't just let you just leave, walk out of camp, _especially_ to go where you're going. If you leave, they'll hunt you down, or try to. If they think you were a spy…" He frowned at Percy. "Hazel stood for you. They really will kill her."

Percy sighed. "Oh."

"Oh," Nico agreed. "Even if you could get around that somehow, you'd still have a long way to go with monsters after you, and the monsters would be a problem. Hazel tried to tell you earlier, about death –"

"The monsters aren't dying?" Percy asked, trying to remember the conversation. 

Nico nodded. "Right. They just reform immediately. Something is wrong – really wrong – and I don't think it's safe for half bloods to be outside of camp right now. _Either_ camp."

"So I'm just supposed to stay here, waiting, when my real life is out there?" Percy didn't like that idea at all. He wasn't afraid of being beset by monsters, even monsters who couldn't die, but he couldn't let Hazel be punished for standing for him. That was what would really stop him, and from the look Nico was giving him, he knew it, too. Nico trusted him not to let anything bad happen to Hazel, and in a way that cheered Percy up more than anything else at Camp Jupiter. Whoever he had been before this all had started, whatever he had done, he wasn't the sort of person who let his friends down. That was good to know.

"I don't think you'll have to wait for long," Nico said darkly. "Whatever's happening, it's getting worse. A lot worse. If Juno really has a plan for you, I'm sure you'll know what it is pretty soon."

Percy ran a hand through his hair and huffed a frustrated sigh. "I'm guessing patience isn't something I'm very good at."

Nico snorted, enough of an answer.

A horn blew out from somewhere in the mess hall, and they both turned toward it. "You need to get back," Nico said unnecessarily. 

"We'll talk again, though, right?" Percy asked. 

Nico looked away, but nodded. "If you want to," he said quietly. 

Percy wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that, but he followed him back into the light anyway.


End file.
